Things I Like

(album: Failed States - 2012)

I like Kurt Russell as Captain Ron.
Grace Under Pressure on in almost any circumstance.
I like dark planetariums.
I like when she wears them low-cut shirts and yoga pants.
I like unbroken snow on lodgepole pine boughs.
The rusty pump of a jay's forest communiqué.
And I like a rowdy fucking Pride parade.

I like how Hedges tells it like it is.
I like the sciences. I like profound mysteries.
I like The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love"
And the emergence of competing histories.
And I like the Maple Leafs
Cuz they remind me of me:
Inconsistent, fragile, internationally reviled.
I like allegories. Cinderella stories.

Ahow ndinawemaaganiidog, Wabanakwut ndigo
(Hello my relatives, I am known as Grey Cloud)
Aapijii iinzan mewinzhaa kete-Anishinaabeg gii-soongide'ewag
(Apparently a long, long time ago the ancient Native people were strong hearted)
Kii-gichi-anokiiwag, kii-jiikendamoog
(They worked hard, they were happy)
Aapijii iinzan kii-chikinaagoziwag
(Apparently they really looked good)
Kete-anishinaabeg ogii-wiidookaawiiwaa shaaganaashiiwag
(The ancient ones supported the Europeans)
Gegoo wiin wiikaa oniikesiidaa
(Let's not forget that)
Pizaaniigo nagamok! Nagamok isina!
(Go ahead and sing you guys! Sing real hard guys!)

I like speculative fiction: dark narratives
Of the future that looms. Of our impending doom.